Photo Collage - Flowers of Edibles, Edible Flowers

Color! That was my first thought when I saw this photo collage that Robert put together. Then I remarked that that was a lot of photos, and told me there were even more that he had not included. These are photos of two things - flowers of edible fruits and berries, or flowers that are edible themselves. 

Some of these blossoms fall into both categories, like roses that are fragrant and have edible petals and produce vitamin C packed, fleshy hips, and the flowers of the milkweed that are great as capers and eventually turn into the edible seed pods to stuff with cheese and bake. Some blooms are from a more medicinal flower, like the mullein or St. John's Wort. Most are the flowers of berries and fruits: wineberries, may apple, wild plums, wild blueberries, elderberries, wild strawberries, and autumn olives. There are even a few from plants that we dig for their roots, like evening primrose, field garlic, trout lily, dandelion, and Solomon's Seal. Finally, we have the lovely lilacs that can be candied, the black locust clusters that are great deep fried in batter, linden bracts for aromatic tea, red clover that's a sweet, nectar-filled trail nibble, and delicate violets that can be used in syrups and jelly.